Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

It is clear that the Minister is not disagreeing with me. In these amendments we seek to have the greyhound industry removed completely from the Bill, which is what, in effect, the Minister has postponed until 1 January 2011 by giving himself an enabling provision to go ahead with his own animal welfare regulations for all dogs, including greyhounds, if he does not reach agreement on the amendment of the 1958 Greyhound Industry Act with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the autumn. In effect, that is what the Minister is doing.

We seek to give certainty to the greyhound industry that we will remove all references to animal welfare from the Dog Breeding Establishments legislation and let the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food deal with it as stand-alone legislation in the autumn. Fianna Fáil backbenchers believe they had an agreement with the Minister and the Taoiseach to that effect, namely, that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food would deal with animal welfare issues surrounding the greyhound industry, but that is not the case. Under the Bill the Minister would still be able to introduce his own regulations through a commencement order in 2011 if he does not agree with the proposals of the Minister, Deputy Smith, in the autumn.

Politically speaking, the Minister is waving a big stick over the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. He is saying that if the Minister, Deputy Smith, does not agree with him he will do his own thing on 1 January 2011. The Minister has given himself the necessary power and provisions in the Bill to do exactly that on 1 January without reference to the Dáil. He does not have to come back to the Dáil. He is giving himself substantial powers at a time when he is not trusted on the matter by his backbencher colleagues in Government. If the Minister wants to be genuine with the people he has been negotiating with, not just stakeholders but Government backbenchers, he should say he will remove all references to matters relating to the Greyhound Industry Act and the greyhound industry and leave it to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Smith, to deal with it in the amendment to the 1958 Act. The Minister will have an input at Cabinet level and the Dáil will have an opportunity on the floor of the House.

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